ABOUT THE FILM

Los Angeles, 1949. Ruthless, Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) runs the show in this town, reaping the ill-gotten gains from the drugs, the guns, the prostitutes and—if he has his way—every wire bet placed west of Chicago. And he does it all with the protection of not only his own paid goons, but also the police and the politicians he has under his thumb. It’s enough to intimidate even the bravest, street-hardened cop…except, perhaps, for the small, secret crew of LAPD outsiders led by Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin) and Sgt. Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), who come together to try to tear Cohen’s world apart.

Under the direction of Ruben Fleischer, “Gangster Squad” is a stylish retelling of events surrounding the LAPD’s efforts to take back their nascent city from one of the most dangerous mafia bosses of all time. The film stars Oscar® nominees Josh Brolin (“Milk,” “True Grit”) and Ryan Gosling (“Half Nelson,” “Drive”), and Academy Award® winner Sean Penn (“Milk,” “Mystic River”) as Mickey Cohen. The film also stars Oscar® nominee Nick Nolte (“Warrior,” “Affliction”), Emma Stone, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Peña, Robert Patrick and Mireille Enos.

The screenplay was written by Will Beall, based on the book Gangster Squad by Paul Lieberman. The film is produced by Dan Lin, Kevin McCormick and Michael Tadross. The executive producers are Ruben Fleischer, Paul Lieberman and Bruce Berman.

The screenplay is by Will Beall (TV’s “Castle”), based on the book Gangster Squad by Paul Lieberman. The film is being produced by Dan Lin (“Sherlock Holmes”), Kevin McCormick (“The Lucky One”) and Michael Tadross (“Arthur”). The executive producers are Paul Lieberman, Ruben Fleischer and Bruce Berman.

Fleischer was joined behind the scenes by his regular collaborators, production designer Maher Ahmad and editor Alan Baumgarten, as well as editor James Herbert, Academy Award®-winning director of photography Dion Beebe (“Memoirs of a Geisha”) and Oscar®-nominated costume designer Mary Zophres (“True Grit”). The film’s composer is Steve Jablonsky.

Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, a Lin Pictures/Kevin McCormick Production, “Gangster Squad.” The film is being distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.

“Gangster Squad” has been rated R by the MPAA for strong violence and language.

Ryan Gosling

Los Angeles, 1949. Ruthless, Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) runs the show in this town, reaping the ill-gotten gains from the drugs, the guns, the prostitutes and—if he has his way—every wire bet placed west of Chicago. And he does it all with the protection of not only his own paid goons, but also the police and the politicians who are under his control. It’s enough to intimidate even the bravest, street-hardened cop…except, perhaps, for the small, secret crew of LAPD outsiders led by Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin) and Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), who come together to try to tear Cohen’s world apart.

Under the direction of Ruben Fleischer (“Zombieland”), “Gangster Squad” is a colorful retelling of events surrounding the LAPD’s efforts to take back their nascent city from one of the most dangerous mafia bosses of all time. The film stars Oscar® nominees Josh Brolin (“Milk,” “True Grit”) and Ryan Gosling (“Half Nelson,” “Drive”) as the LAPD’s Sgt. John O’Mara and Jerry Wooters, and Academy Award® winner Sean Penn (“Milk,” “Mystic River”) as real-life mobster Mickey Cohen. The film also stars Oscar® nominee Nick Nolte (“Warrior,” “Affliction”) as LAPD Chief “Whiskey Bill” Parker, and Emma Stone as Grace Faraday, Cohen’s moll and the object of Wooters’ attention.

The movie also stars Anthony Mackie (“The Adjustment Bureau”) as Coleman Harris, a switchblade-wielding cop who proudly patrols one of the most crime-ridden areas of the city; Giovanni Ribisi (“Avatar”) as the force’s Conwell Keeler, an electronics expert who takes as much pleasure in fixing his son’s bike as he does tinkering with experimental, military-grade equipment; Michael Peña (“Battle Los Angeles”) as Kennard’s over-eager sidekick, Navidad Ramirez; and Robert Patrick (“Flags of Our Fathers”) as Officer Max Kennard, a deadly cop who patrols the Olvera Street beat.

The screenplay is by Will Beall (TV’s “Castle”), based on the book Gangster Squad by Paul Lieberman. The film is being produced by Dan Lin (“Sherlock Holmes”), Kevin McCormick (“The Lucky One”) and Michael Tadross (“Arthur”). The executive producers are Ruben Fleischer, Paul Lieberman and Bruce Berman.

Joining Fleischer behind the scenes are the director’s regular collaborators, production designer Maher Ahmad and editor Alan Baumgarten (“30 Minutes or Less,” “Zombieland”), as well as editor James Herbert (the “Sherlock Holmes” films), Academy Award®-winning director of photography Dion Beebe (“Memoirs of a Geisha”) and Oscar®-nominated costume designer Mary Zophres (“True Grit”). The film’s composer is Steve Jablonsky (“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”).

Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, a Lin Pictures/Kevin McCormick Production, “Gangster Squad.” The film opens nationwide on September 7, 2012, and will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures. “Gangster Squad” has been rated R by the MPAA for strong violence and language.

SGT. JERRY WOOTERS

Navy vet Jerry Wooters doesn’t look like a cop, move like a cop or think like one. He’s a little more refined, less tightly coiled. Sure, he’s nabbed his share of bad guys, but he doesn’t take their sins to heart. It’s just a job; he stopped believing he could make a difference a long time ago. He’s serious about bachelorhood and little else. Never met a woman or a wager he didn’t like. Wooters skims the surface, gliding upstream, a smooth player in a sea of hard-heads and wannabes. Loves the action, but he ain’t looking to be a hero.

GRACE FARADAY

AKA Mickey Cohen’s “etiquette tutor.” Grace Faraday looks like a Vargas pinup girl. Smart, savvy, effortlessly sexy. She’s world-weary but this so-called scarlet lady isn’t looking to be rescued from her life of sin. She knew what she was getting into when she became Cohen’s mistress – and there’s no getting out, unless it’s in a pine box. Rumor has it she’s two-timing the gangster, which will surely hasten her demise if Cohen gets wind of her treachery.

JOHN O'MARA

An honest cop, a trained commando, a man who lives in a world where there is good, there is evil and nothing in between. A square jaw and an uncompromising attitude you’d break your knuckles on. O’Mara doesn’t give his word lightly, but he’ll die to keep it. He killed his share of Nazis in WWII and knows how to win a fight, even when he’s outnumbered, but heroics have cost him. Multiple transfers for excessive force and insubordination have bounced him around the police department like a ping pong ball; he’s on borrowed time in Homicide. Like Mickey Cohen, he’s willing to do what the other guy won’t – but in the name of good rather than greed. You mess with him at your own peril.

MICKEY COHEN

The most ruthless gangster to ever cast his shadow on Los Angeles. A former boxer from the East Coast, Cohen is not a large man, but his malevolence fills a room and his corruptive influence chokes the City of Angels like poison gas. He hasn’t just cornered the market on drugs, prostitution and gambling – he owns it, and he’s put everyone in a position to stop him on his payroll: cops, judges, politicians, you name it. He handles a gun with the same dexterity he used to dispatch his opponents in the ring. Cohen is a merciless, unforgiving, unrelenting beast. Cross him or fail him and you’ll be subject to unparalleled brutality.

CONWAY KEELER

The best wire man on the LAPD. Whip smart, unfailingly precise, his engine burns faster and brighter than most. Keeler is an electronics specialist, as adept with state-of-the-art, military grade equipment as he is at building his own experimental gadgetry. A family man who fought the war to help protect America’s future, he wants to be able to tell his young son that he didn’t stand idly by and let Mickey Cohen take it all away from them.

COLEMAN HARRIS

AKA the Sheriff of Central Avenue. Tough as a carved oak statue and a virtuoso with a switchblade. Harris was one of the first black lieutenants in the department, and the first to voluntarily give up his bars when he didn’t cotton to a controversial assignment. Walking a beat on Central Ave. has earned him multiple citations for excessive force and administrative discipline, but he’s got a personal stake in ridding his neighborhood of the heroin Mickey Cohen is pumping into the city. Try to peddle dope on his beat and you’ll wind up on the business end of his blade.

BILL PARKER

An imposing presence. No frills, save for fine whisky, and he can spot bullshit a mile away. Parker takes care of business – and if it means taking an operation off the books to get results, so be it. His department is David versus Mickey Cohen’s goliath, but rampant corruption and Cohen’s chokehold on the justice system isn’t going to stop Parker from waging covert guerilla warfare to save his city.

NAVIDAD RAMIREZ

Kennard’s partner on the beat. A former all-Valley sprinter, Ramirez is sharp, dogged and eager to prove himself. He’s young, but don’t underestimate him. This immigrant’s son is nothing if not tenacious, and he never backs down.

MAX KENNARD

Hands down, the deadliest cop in Los Angeles. An expert marksman and a man of few words, Kennard lets his signature .45 caliber Colt Peacemaker do the talking for him. He’s shot more crooks than anyone on the LAPD in the last 100 years, and he’s got notches scalloped in the butt of his Peacemaker to commemorate each one.

PARTNERS

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When long-term congressman Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) commits a major public gaffe before an upcoming election, a pair of ultra-wealthy CEOs plot to put up a rival candidate and gain influence over their North Carolina district. Their man: naïve Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis), director of the local Tourism Center.

At first, Marty appears to be the unlikeliest possible choice but, with the help of his new benefactors’ support, a cutthroat campaign manager and his family’s political connections, he soon becomes a contender who gives the charismatic Cam plenty to worry about.

As election day closes in, the two are locked in a dead heat, with insults quickly escalating to injury until all they care about is burying each other, in this mud-slinging, back-stabbing, home-wrecking comedy from “Meet the Parents” director Jay Roach that takes today’s political circus to its logical next level. Because even when you think campaign ethics have hit rock bottom, there’s room to dig a whole lot deeper.

The comedy “The Campaign” stars Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, Jason Sudeikis, Dylan McDermott and Katherine LaNasa, with John Lithgow, Dan Aykroyd and Brian Cox. Directed by Jay Roach and written by Chris Henchy & Shawn Harwell, from a story by Adam McKay & Chris Henchy & Shawn Harwell, it is produced by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Jay Roach and Zach Galifianakis. Amy Sayres, Jon Poll and Chris Henchy serve as executive producers.

When long-term congressman Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) commits a major public gaffe before an upcoming election, a pair of ultra-wealthy CEOs plot to put up a rival candidate and gain influence over their North Carolina district. Their man: naïve Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis), director of the local Tourism Center.

At first, Marty appears to be the unlikeliest possible choice but, with the help of his new benefactors’ support, a cutthroat campaign manager and his family’s political connections, he soon becomes a contender who gives the charismatic Cam plenty to worry about.

As election day closes in, the two are locked in a dead heat, with insults quickly escalating to injury until all they care about is burying each other, in this mud-slinging, back-stabbing, home-wrecking comedy from “Meet the Parents” director Jay Roach that takes today’s political circus to its logical next level. Because even when you think campaign ethics have hit rock bottom, there’s room to dig a whole lot deeper.

The comedy “The Campaign” stars Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, Jason Sudeikis, Dylan McDermott and Katherine LaNasa, with John Lithgow, Dan Aykroyd and Brian Cox. Directed by Jay Roach and written by Chris Henchy & Shawn Harwell, from a story by Adam McKay & Chris Henchy & Shawn Harwell, it is produced by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Jay Roach and Zach Galifianakis. Amy Sayres, Jon Poll and Chris Henchy serve as executive producers.

When long-term congressman Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) commits a major public gaffe before an upcoming election, a pair of ultra-wealthy CEOs plot to put up a rival candidate and gain influence over their North Carolina district. Their man: naïve Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis), director of the local Tourism Center.

At first, Marty appears to be the unlikeliest possible choice but, with the help of his new benefactors’ support, a cutthroat campaign manager and his family’s political connections, he soon becomes a contender who gives the charismatic Cam plenty to worry about.

As election day closes in, the two are locked in a dead heat, with insults quickly escalating to injury until all they care about is burying each other, in this mud-slinging, back-stabbing, home-wrecking comedy from “Meet the Parents” director Jay Roach that takes today’s political circus to its logical next level. Because even when you think campaign ethics have hit rock bottom, there’s room to dig a whole lot deeper.

The comedy “The Campaign” stars Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, Jason Sudeikis, Dylan McDermott and Katherine LaNasa, with John Lithgow, Dan Aykroyd and Brian Cox. Directed by Jay Roach and written by Chris Henchy & Shawn Harwell, from a story by Adam McKay & Chris Henchy & Shawn Harwell, it is produced by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Jay Roach and Zach Galifianakis. Amy Sayres, Jon Poll and Chris Henchy serve as executive producers.

When long-term congressman Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) commits a major public gaffe before an upcoming election, a pair of ultra-wealthy CEOs plot to put up a rival candidate and gain influence over their North Carolina district. Their man: naïve Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis), director of the local Tourism Center.

At first, Marty appears to be the unlikeliest possible choice but, with the help of his new benefactors’ support, a cutthroat campaign manager and his family’s political connections, he soon becomes a contender who gives the charismatic Cam plenty to worry about.

As election day closes in, the two are locked in a dead heat, with insults quickly escalating to injury until all they care about is burying each other, in this mud-slinging, back-stabbing, home-wrecking comedy from “Meet the Parents” director Jay Roach that takes today’s political circus to its logical next level. Because even when you think campaign ethics have hit rock bottom, there’s room to dig a whole lot deeper.

The comedy “The Campaign” stars Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, Jason Sudeikis, Dylan McDermott and Katherine LaNasa, with John Lithgow, Dan Aykroyd and Brian Cox. Directed by Jay Roach and written by Chris Henchy & Shawn Harwell, from a story by Adam McKay & Chris Henchy & Shawn Harwell, it is produced by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Jay Roach and Zach Galifianakis. Amy Sayres, Jon Poll and Chris Henchy serve as executive producers.